Spherically symmetric trapping horizons, the Misner-Sharp mass and black hole evaporation

Understood in terms of pure states evolving into mixed states, the possibility of information loss in black holes is closely related to the global causal structure of spacetime, as is the existence of event horizons. However, black holes need not be defined by event horizons, and in fact we argue that in order to have a fully unitary evolution for black holes, they should be defined in terms of something else, such as a trapping horizon. The Misner-Sharp mass in spherical symmetry shows very simply how trapping horizons can give rise to black hole thermodynamics, Hawking radiation and singularities. We show how the Misner-Sharp mass can also be used to give insights into the process of collapse and evaporation of locally defined black holes.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

Isospectral Potentials from Modified Factorization

Factorization of quantum mechanical potentials has a long history extending back to the earliest days of the subject. In the present paper, the non-uniqueness of the factorization is exploited to derive new isospectral non-singular potentials. Many one-parameter families of potentials can be generated from known potentials using a factorization that involves superpotentials defined in terms of excited states of a potential. For these cases an operator representation is available. If ladder operators are known for the original potential, then a straightforward procedure exists for defining such operators for its isospectral partners. The generality of the method is illustrated with a number of examples which may have many possible applications in atomic and molecular physics.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Heating of ions by low-frequency Alfv\'{e}n waves in partially ionized plasmas

In the solar atmosphere, the chromospheric and coronal plasmas are much hotter than the visible photosphere. The heating of the solar atmosphere, including the partially ionized chromosphere and corona, remains largely unknown. In this paper we demonstrate that the ions can be substantially heated by Alfv\'{e}n waves with very low frequencies in partially ionized low beta plasmas. This differs from other Alfv\'{e}n wave related heating mechanisms such as ion-neutral collisional damping of Alfv\'{e}n waves and heating described by previous work on resonant Alfv\'{e}n wave heating. In this paper, we find that the non-resonant Alfv\'{e}n wave heating is less efficient in partially ionized plasmas than when there are no ion-neutral collisions, and the heating efficiency depends on the ratio of the ion-neutral collision frequency to the ion gyrofrequency.Comment: Published as Letter

Transport through two-level quantum dots weakly coupled to ferromagnetic leads

Spin-dependent transport through a two-level quantum dot in the sequential tunneling regime is analyzed theoretically by means of a real-time diagrammatic technique. It is shown that the current, tunnel magnetoresistance, and shot noise (Fano factor) strongly depend on the transport regime, providing a detailed information on the electronic structure of quantum dots and their coupling to external leads. When the dot is asymmetrically coupled to the leads, a negative differential conductance may occur in certain bias regions, which is associated with a super-Poissonian shot noise. In the case of a quantum dot coupled to one half-metallic and one nonmagnetic lead, one finds characteristic Pauli spin blockade effects. Transport may be also suppressed when the dot levels are coupled to the leads with different coupling strengths. The influence of an external magnetic field on transport properties is also discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Mesoscopic Kondo effect of a quantum dot embedded in an Aharonov-Bohm ring with intradot spin-flip scattering

We study the Kondo effect in a quantum dot embedded in a mesoscopic ring taking into account intradot spin-flip scattering $R$. Based on the finite-$U$ slave-boson mean-field approach, we find that the Kondo peak in the density of states is split into two peaks by this coherent spin-flip transition, which is responsible for some interesting features of the Kondo-assisted persistent current circulating the ring: (1) strong suppression and crossover to a sine function form with increasing $R$; (2) appearance of a "hump" in the $R$-dependent behavior for odd parity. $R$-induced reverse of the persistent current direction is also observed for odd parity.Comment: 7 pages,6 figures, to be published by Europhys. Let

Hemodynamic evaluation using four-dimensional flow magnetic resonance imaging for a patient with multichanneled aortic dissection

The hemodynamic function of multichanneled aortic dissection (MCAD) requires close monitoring and effective management to avoid potentially catastrophic sequelae. This report describes a 47-year-old man who underwent endovascular repair based on findings from four-dimensional (4D) flow magnetic resonance imaging of an MCAD. The acquired 4D flow data revealed complex, bidirectional flow patterns in the false lumens and accelerated blood flow in the compressed true lumen. The collapsed abdominal true lumen expanded unsatisfactorily after primary tear repair, which required further remodeling with bare stents. This case study demonstrates that hemodynamic analysis using 4D flow magnetic resonance imaging can help understand the complex pathologic changes of MCAD

Optical Response of Solid CO2_2 as a Tool for the Determination of the High Pressure Phase

We report first-principles calculations of the frequency dependent linear and second-order optical properties of the two probable extended-solid phases of CO$_2$--V, i.e. $I\bar42d$ and $P2_12_12_1$. Compared to the parent $Cmca$ phase the linear optical susceptibility of both phases is much smaller. We find that $I\bar42d$ and $P2_12_12_1$ differ substantially in their linear optical response in the higher energy regime. The nonlinear optical responses of the two possible crystal structures differ by roughly a factor of five. Since the differences in the nonlinear optical spectra are pronounced in the low energy regime, i.e. below the band gap of diamond, measurements with the sample inside the diamond anvil cell are feasible. We therefore suggest optical experiments in comparison with our calculated data as a tool for the unambiguous identification of the high pressure phase of CO$_2$.Comment: 4 pages 2 fig

Pion Decay Constant, ZAZ_A and Chiral Log from Overlap Fermions

We report our calculation of the pion decay constant $f_\pi$, the axial renormalization constant $Z_A$, and the quenched chiral logarithms from the overlap fermions. The calculation is done on a quenched $20^4$ lattice at $a=0.148$ fm using tree level tadpole improved gauge action. The smallest pion mass we reach is about 280 MeV. The lattice size is about 4 times the Compton wavelength of the lowest mass pion.Comment: Lattice2001(Hadronic Matrix Elements), 3pages, 5figure

Effect of the Kondo correlation on thermopower in a Quantum Dot

In this paper we study the thermopower of a quantum dot connected to two leads in the presence of Kondo correlation by employing a modified second-order perturbation scheme at nonequilibrium. A simple scheme, Ng's ansatz [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 76}, 487 (1996)], is adopted to calculate nonequilibrium distribution Green's function and its validity is further checked with regard to the Onsager relation. Numerical results demonstrate that the sign of the thermopower can be changed by tuning the energy level of the quantum dot, leading to a oscillatory behavior with a suppressed magnitude due to the Kondo effect. We also calculate the thermal conductance of the system, and find that the Wiedemann-Franz law is obeyed at low temperature but violated with increasing temperature, corresponding to emerging and quenching of the Kondo effect.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in J Phys.: Condensed Matte